by Nathan Boddy
It must have been quite a birthday for Arthur Alexander, who placed first in the 12-14 year old division on Saturday, June 17th. For his placement, Arthur and the first place winner of the 12-17 year old division, Harrison Yaskus, each received a brand new .22 rifle, courtesy of the Sapphire Range chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation. Along with more than a dozen other youth, Arthur spent the day learning safe handling of firearms and detailed instruction on proper shooting. They also got the opportunity to rotate through both handgun and rifle stations at Whittecar Range, west of Hamilton.
Saturday’s event was the result of a multi-organizational effort to expose Montana youth to outdoor activities, hunting and conservation. The Montana Matters Youth Outdoor Experience (MMYOE) hosted an expo at the Ravalli County Fairgrounds in May, during which kids were able to rotate through dozens of booths to explore everything from archery and fly casting to climbing wall and proper use of bear spray. Those who’d visited enough of the booths were able to submit their names for a randomized drawing to be included in the shooting event.
Chris Fortune, the Montana Regional Director of the Mule Deer Foundation, was on site to explain the importance of getting youth involved, and how their involvement can translate to land conservation and healthy wildlife populations.
“Hunters are the ultimate conservationists,” he said, pointing to the fact that taxes on the sale of guns and ammunition fund the overwhelming majority of federal conservation dollars through the Pittman-Robertson Act. Those conservation dollars, which cannot be reallocated to other uses, are what have created the successful North American model of wildlife conservation. Fortune points out that the future of wildlife conservation is aligned with the future of hunting and fishing. His organization, specifically, takes note that numbers of mule deer are on the decline throughout North
America. And while that is the result of multiple factors, having funds available and people engaged who understand and appreciate wildlife will mean a secure future.
“We want to get as many kids involved with shooting as we can,” he said. The Mule Deer Foundation is not only raising awareness about mule deer and their habitat, but it has raised millions of dollars for various projects throughout the state, which include programs for kids.
“The Mule Deer Foundation doesn’t consider itself a hunting organization,” said Fortune. “We consider ourselves a conservation organization that promotes hunting. We realize that hunters are the ultimate conservationists, the ones that help build a bigger voice in the management of our wildlife.”
Fortune himself spent years working with the Montana FWP in order to implement the mentor/apprentice program which allows registered youth as young as 10 to participate in deer hunting in Montana before moving on to hunter safety. He says that the program, which has been operational for more than a dozen years, has been hugely successful and gotten more kids to go into hunter safety and to adopt the hunting tradition. He makes the strong connection between everything from getting youth engaged in hunting to on-the-ground efforts to rehabilitate landscapes for wildlife as being the keys to conservation.
The Wild Sheep Foundation and Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association were also on board to help make this summer’s programs available to the kids. Along with the generous participation of Whittecar Rifle and Pistol Range, and Ammo and More of Stevensville, which provided the ammunition to the young shooters, the collective interest in the youth’s engagement is clear.
Dan Lyons of the Mule Deer Foundation said, “We try to make it fun,” and added, “The only complaint I have is that they didn’t have programs like this when I was a kid.”
Lyons also acknowledged that, like any investment, some will take and some will not. “You won’t turn them all into conservationists, but it helps.”